Book Cover Options with 48 Hour Books

You’ve already poured your heart and soul into your project, and when it comes time to finally print, the process can be overwhelming and may require some guidance. It’s always helpful to go to a bookstore and physically look at different books that catch your eye.  What about these books drew you to them? Was it a design element? Glossy raised text? The dust jacket? These are questions you should ask yourself before committing to your book materials.

Book cover design is a major factor in the marketability of your book and the overall appeal to someone browsing at the store or online, so you want it to be eye-catching. Before you can even begin to think about book cover options, you will first need to determine the type of binding is right for you book.

Binding type depends a lot on genre and personal preference. For example, if you’re following industry standards, memoirs are typically released in a hardcover version first, then later printed as paperback. The great part about self-publishing is that you are making all of the decisions, so if you want to release a paperback version as your initial memoir release, then that is perfectly fine! We recommend checking out this blog post that dives deeper into choosing a binding style.

We wanted to outline some of the differences between our unique cover options and provide photos of each.  This way you can compare every book option and envision how you want your books to look.  

Standard Cover Options:

After you choose your binding, then you will need to consider your book cover finish. Do you want your cover to be gloss, matte, or something else? When you go to place your order with 48 Hour Books, you will have four options if you choose to print a paperback, coil bound, or saddle-stitch book:

Standard 10 pt. C1S: A heavy 10 mil cover paper, with a smooth, hard surface for the outside and uncoated surface on the inside. You’ll have a choice of three different coatings: Gloss UV is our default, but you can also choose Silk Laminate or Hi-Gloss Laminate.

12 pt. C1S: Just like the 10 pt. above, but 20% heavier. It’s a 12 mil cover paper, with a smooth, hard surface for the outside and uncoated surface on the inside. And, just like the 10 pt. above, you’ll be able to choose your coating: Gloss UV, Silk Laminate, or Hi-Gloss Laminate.

80# Smooth Cover: A heavy (11 mil) cover paper, with a smooth finish. No coating, no glossing ... for authors looking for a more basic, earthier feel for their covers.

80# Linen Covers: Linen is similar to the appearance of cloth covers, but for paperback books. If you look closely, you can see the texture, which is a smooth, etched pattern. It’s about 9.5 mil thick, which is still plenty thick enough. No coating, but the linen finish adds to the richness of your cover.

Leatherette Cover: An acrylic-coated paper with a pronounced leather embossed finish. Leatherette can’t be printed on. It’s either blank or Diamond 3D Foil stamped and is available in five colors.

Special Cover Options (Hardcover)

Cloth Covers: A beautiful yet economical cover material with a pronounced linen weave. These high-quality cloth book covers are available in several bright, vibrant colors. Cloth pairs well with dust jackets and foil stamping.  Here is a look at a couple case bound books with cloth covers and foil stamping.

Leather Covers: A bonded leather, which is made of 100% cowhide leather fibers, making it an attractive and durable material for a book cover. Custom leather book covers are available in several rich, dark colors. Hardcover books can also be printed with a leatherette cover.

Dust Jackets: A removable laminated cover that wraps around the existing cover of the book. You can choose from a gloss or silk (matte) dust jacket. Dust jackets wrap around case bound books. Dust jackets pair well with our cloth and leather covers. Many people choose to foil stamp the covers underneath or leave them blank! Here are two books that use each option – gloss and silk (matte).

Special Cover Treatments

Foil Stamping: The application of metallic foil to paper, using a heated custom-made die. It adds shimmer and richness to highlight specific text or images on your cover. Foil stamping pairs brilliantly with cloth and leather covers.

Diamond 3D Covers: A raised coating that creates a 3D effect. Diamond 3D Printing comes in three different options: Clear Coat, Metallic Foil, and Smart Textures. It’s difficult to capture the brilliant effect of 3D printing in a photograph, so we recommend checking out our YouTube channel where you can find a ton of videos featuring a variety of books featuring Diamond 3D. 

See our print options up close

You can view our paper and book cover options in your home when you order our free Ultimate Guide to a 48 Hour Book. Along with our print options, this sample book contains helpful information on our printing process, tips for self-publishing, and more. We’ve received a lot of positive feedback from authors about how useful they found the sample book to be.

“The customer support is outstanding, beginning with the free book that gives us so much information about preparing a book. Love the options for the book cover and back. In every step of the process, I found a quick phone call or email always resulted in quick service, done by very pleasant and knowledgeable people that could help me on every step along the way. The prices are at a good rate and the quality of the work is excellent. Once ready to be printed the process is done quickly with a fast delivery time.” – Sandra W.

Order your free sample book today.